Railway-car.



1. 0. NEIKIRK.

RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1915.

Patented July l?, 1917.

SHEETS-SHEET I.

l. 0. NEIKIRK.

RAILWAY CAR.

APPLlcMlom FILED AuGJi. 1.915.

Pbtelltd July 17, 19W.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 www@ J. O` NEIKIRK.

RAILWAY CAR.v

APPLICATION FILED AuG.6, 191s.

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4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

J. 0. NEIKIRK.

RAILWAY CAR. APPLl'cATloN man Aue.,1915. v Lmw@ 1116111911111@ 17, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Wlhhwll@ PATENT FFICF. i

JOHN o. NEIKIRK, or LOMBARD, ILLINOIS, assIorNoru To Renens BALLAST'CAR COMPANY, A ConPonATIoN orpi/MINE.

RAILWAY-CAR.

-ll,233,59l6.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN O. NEIKIRK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lombard, in the county of Dupage and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to railway cars and especially to that type of car known as convertible ballast bars, which are adapted, by the convertibility of certain of the parts thereof, for use in ballast and construction work as well as for the transportation of freight in the ordinary manner. The ,object of'my invention is to improve the construction of these cars as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side eleva-` tion of my improved car. Fig. Zisa plan view, certain parts being broken away. Fig.

3 is an end elevation. Fi 4 is a cross seet tion on the line 4 4 o Fig.L 2, looking toward the end of the car, a part of one member M being removed to show the hinge construction.

Cars of this type comprise a centrally disposed longitudinal hopper having a swinging door through which ballast material may be distributed between the rails of the track, the horizontal floor of the car being provided with doors which swing from the horizontal position in which they `form a portion of the oor of the car over the hopper to an inclined position, in which they form a part of the hopper sides. These c ars are also provided with outwardly swinglng doors in theirsides through which material may be distributed outside the track by means ofa plow. The ends of the car are made changeable in position from the end of the car to the end of the hopper, or they may be removed when the cars are used with"v the unloadin plow.

Owing to t e presence of thehopper, 1t 1s necesary that these cars have an unobstruct-l ed central opening, through which material may be discharged from the car through the hopper, so that it has been. necessary to dispense with the usual central longitudinal sills, thus making it necessary to distribute the loads and strains, ordinarily taken by the center sills, to the other longitudinal members of the car. It has hitherto been customary to rovide these cars in addition to side sills with heavy intermediate sills adj a- Specication o f Letters Patent.

Patented July 117, 1917:

Application filed August 6, 1915. Serial No. 44,080.

has been restricted. In carrying out myY present invention, therefore, in` addition to dispensing with the center sills, I dispense also with the heavy intermediate sills/and distribute the shocks and strains incident to the use of these ycars as hereinafter pointed out.

4Referring'to the drawings, A indicates the end sill, B the bolster, C the sides of the car, the latter being provided with the usual outwardly swinging doors C', C2 side door lockingdevices, D the movable ends, E, the hopper, F the swinging Hoor doors, Gr the hopper door operating devices, all as more fully shown and described in' United States Patent to Hart, Meissner and Neikirk, Serial No. 827,632, July 31st, 1906, to which reference is made for a more complete de scription of these parts, it being noted, however, that lin the present instance the construction is carried out entirely in steel instead of partly 'in wood, as in the prior patent referred to.

In the present construction, I have dis-` pensed entirely with all longitudinal load carrying members with the exception of side sills. These side sills H are made of heavy girders capable of sustaining the entire load of the car and of receiving and distributing the draft and buiing strains incident to the operation of' the cars. These 'girders are placed as shown below the horizontal floor level of the car and are connected to the holsters and end sills and carry the sides of the car through the intermediary of suitable side stakes K. Between the holsters and extending from side sill to side sill are they serve to carry but a small portion of 11o the weight due to the lading of the ca r, but serve principally as a convenient means for attaching the hopper to the cross bearers. Said members, therefore, do not perform the function ot' the usual intern'iediate sills found in this type of car. l

From the construction .so far described, it will be seen that the hopper is supported upon a frame work consisting of the cross bearers and articulated members, which 'trame work is hung` from the heavy side sills. At the ends the car is provided with draft sills N between the en d sills and bolsters and with suitabledraftdevices N. On either side of the draft devices are arranged laitiers From the end sills at a point adjacent the buffers and, extending to the side sill adjacent the holsters are arranged brace members l. The ends of the car are also provided with integral metallic floor plates Q suitably riveted to the end sills, holsters, drat't sills, and braces so as to assist in distributing the strains to the side sills. The. lloor of the car, in addition to these end ioor plates and the swinging doors F, comprises stationary side floor plates R. Owing to the factthat these are metallic plates, it becomes necessary to hinge the doors F in such a manner as to present no obstruction to the passage-ot' an unloading plow over the plates when the car is nsedfas a side dump car. In order to carry out this purpose, I provide thesedoors withhinge members S which are placed entirely beneaththe licor, these hinge mem )ers being provided with an intermediate' bent portion as shown, thus permitting the upward swing of tliedoors and at-the same time having no parts projecting above the iioor when the doors are closed. It should be stated that each of the doors F extends from the end to the middle 'of the hopper so that thesedoorswvhen closed rest upon" and are supported by the cross bearers L. i

` From the above description it will be seentl'iat I have provided a car of this type,

which is simple in construction and in which all yintermediate load carrying longitudinal members are dispensed with. One advantage ot' thus dispensing with these intel-mie diate longitudinal members is, that Vadditional lspace is left for the wheels adjacent the hopper ends so that it is possible without increasing the height of the car to use wheels of greater diameter than are ordinarily used. In the present instance, wheels of 41 diameter may be used in place ot the customary wheels ot' 33 diameter.

'hile l have described a speciiic embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the application of thc principle is not dependent upon the use of the particular construction herein shown and described. Having thus described this particular cmbodiment what lI claim is:

l. A car of the class described comprising a central, longitudinally disposed hopper, an undert'rame supporting said hopper, the longitudinal shock and strain resisting menibers or' said undert'rame between the bolsters consisting only of heavy side sills below the horizontal Iioor of the car.

A Iar of the class described comprising a central, longitudinally disposed hop-v per, an nnderframe supporting said hopper, the longitudinal shock Iand strain resisting members of said underirame between the holsters consisting only ot' heavy side sills below the horizontal tloor ot the car, and means for distributing the buliing strains through the side sills.

3. A car of the class described comprising a central, longitudinally disposed hopper, an unde'ri'rame supporting said hopper, the longitudinal shock and strain resisting members of said underframe between the bolsters consisting only of heavy side sills below the horizontal floor of the car, and means for distributing the draft strains through the side sills.

i 4f A car ot' the class described comprising a central, longitudinally disposed hopper, an underframe supporting said hopper, the longitudinal shock and strain resisting members of said under-frame between the holsters consisting only of heavy sidel sills below the horizontal Hoor of the car, and a fr: me work comprising transverse members himg from the side sills and supporting the hopper.

` A car of the class described comprising a central, longitudinally disposed hopper, an underframe supporting said hopper, the longitudinal shock fand strain resisting members of said undert'rame between the bolsters consisting only of heavy side sills below the horizontal lioor ot the ear, and cross bearers extending from side sill to side sill.

Chicago, July 30, 1915.

JOHN O. NEIKTRK. 

